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"Wait here." Nico pulled a chair from the kitchen island for me to sit. "That's our food."
He returned a minute later with a box of pizza and a bottle of red wine. After Nico put the pizza on plates and poured two glasses of wine, he tipped his head at the living room.
"C'mon, I wanna relax. It's been a long fucking day."
I plopped onto the couch beside him and folded my slice in half, letting some of the grease drip onto the plate. We ate in silence, which was fine. Neither of us needed to speak to enjoy the other's company.
Midway through our meal, his cell phone rang.
"For fucks sake," he groaned as he looked at the screen and raised the phone to his ear. "What?"
I heard Dante curse at him in Italian.
Nico nodded. "Yeah. Be there in a minute." He stuffed the phone into his pocket and groaned. "Can't even enjoy a fucking meal without him calling me."
"Is everything okay?"
"Who fucking knows?"
Nico bent down to kiss me, stealing the air from my lungs. It didn't last long, but the effects of his touch left a lasting impression.
"Be a good girl for me." He ran his fingers through my long hair and gave me a peck. "I'll be back as soon as I can."
I stood on my tippy toes and wrapped my arms around his neck. "How long will you be gone?”
"I don't know. Watch a movie. Order whatever you want. Call the front desk and ask for Mrs. Destefano if you need anything."
Nico kissed me one last time, and then he was gone.
ChapterTwenty-Seven
ANGELO
For most of my life, I didn’t think much about Nico. He was the golden boy and wasn’t around much when I was growing up. While he was off at college, I was here with my brothers learning the family business. But he shocked the hell out of me.
His single act of rebellion proved he wasn’t a good boy anymore.
He had balls.
About time.
I only wished I could have been there to see the look on Vittoria’s face when Nico was fucking Ava on the floor.
Priceless.
Our father summoned us after he got the news from Paulie that the wedding was off. Good fucking riddance to that stupid family. Of course, neither of them were thrilled. Paulie was the one pushing the marriage from the start. And for some idiotic reason my dad went along with it.
Something was off about him lately.
Paulie was making more decisions for our dad, acting like the boss, not his advisor. He was getting older, but he wasn’t that fucking old.
A few times, Dad started repeating himself, or even forgot what he ate for dinner. Normal shit that he laughed off when we confronted him about it. Nico had suspected for a while that Dad wasn’t okay. Even his mistress agreed. So when Dad suggested Nico marry a Vitale, he had to be losing his mind. That was the only explanation for his ridiculous plan.
We sat in his living room, waiting for him to speak. He’d been staring at each of us from the armchair and sipping scotch from the glass. Even at his age, he was still intimidating.
“Paulie spoke with Vincenzo Vitale,” Dad said after a long pause. “The engagement is off.”
Tell us something we don’t know.
